Glider for hand vacuum cleaners



E. P. TURNER 2,574,442

GLIDER FOR HAND VACUUM CLEANERS Nov. 6, 1951 Filed May 14, 1949 Patented Nov. 6, 1951 GLIDER FOR HAND VACUUM CLEANERS Edgar P. Turner, Fanwood, N. J assignor to The Singer Manufacturing Company,

Elizabeth,

N. J a corporation of New Jersey Application May 14, 1949, Serial No. 93,382

3 Claims.

This invention relates to vacuum cleaners and more particularly to a means whereby a vacuum cleaner of the type that is ordinarily held in one hand, and commonly known as a hand Vacuum cleaner, may be provided with an extension hose and supporting runners so that the hand vacuum cleaner can be placed on the floor and pulled around by the hose.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a glider that can easily be attached to or removed from a hand vacuum cleaner.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved means that will render a hand vacuum cleaner usable selectively as a hand vacuum cleaner or in the same manner in which a tank type cleaner is usable.

With the above and other objects in view, as will hereinafter appear, the invention comprises the devices, combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter set forth and illustrated in the accompanying drawings of a preferred embodiment of the invention, from which the several features of the invention and the advantages attained thereby will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

In the accompanying drawings- Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a hand vacuum cleaner equipped with a glider embodying the present invention, and Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the glider.

The single sheet of drawings, forming a part of this specification, illustrates a hand vacuum cleaner I supported by a Wire frame or glider l I. The vacuum cleaner includes, among other items, a fan casing l2 and a motor housing l3, the two being held together by screws [4. The fan casing l2 has an intake l6, and an exhaust (not shown) to which a dust bag if is attached. A

carrying handle is has its front terminal l9 secured to the fan casing I2 and its rear terminal 2| secured to the motor housing l3. The rear terminal 2'! of the handle I8 is bent and thereby protrudes rearwardly beyond the end of the motor housing l3. The intake I6 of the fan casing l2 has, protruding from its forward end, a reduced neck which may be formed integral therewith or as indicated in Fig. 1 may be in the form of a separate pipe 22 entering a recess 23 provided in the intake l6. While the drawing shows the pipe '22 as having a tapered inner end that fits into the tapered recess 23 formed in the intake IE, it will be understood that any other suitable type of connection may be employed.

The end of the tube 22 remote from the fan casing 12 is attached to a flexible hose 26 by a free end of the hose 26 is adapted to receive a variety of attachments of which only one, a nozzle 27, is shown.

The glider II is formed from a single piece of wire that is preferably circular in cross section and bent to provide a pair of slightly divergentconvergent runner portions 3I-3 I The diverging ends of the runners 3| and 3| are bent upwardly and backwardly, as at 32 and 32, and thereby form a pair of upstanding convergent wire portions 30-30. The upper ends of these upstanding portions are bent downwardly as at 33-33 and thereby merge into a centrally located U-shaped loop 34 fashioned to receive the intake pipe 22 of the hand vacuum cleaner in.

The longitudinal axes of the upstanding wire portions 36 and 30' preferably define a plane that intersects, at an angle of approximately seventyfive degrees a plane defined by the longitudinal axes of the runners 3| and 3 l The portion of the wire which forms the loop 34 lies in a vertical plane that is substantially normal to the plane defined by the axis of the runners 3l-3l The dimensions of the loop 34 are such thatthe wire frame has to be sprung slightly when the pipe 22 enters the loop 34, thus insuring proper holding of the pipe by the loop.

At the other end of the glider, where the runners converge toward one another, wire portions 35-35, extending from the runners 3 l-3l', are bent, as at 36-36, so as to be upstanding and convergent. The upper ends of these upstanding portions are bent, as at 31-31, to form horizontally and coaxially positioned portions 40-40. The proximate ends of these horizontal portions are bent as at 38-38 to form centrally located portions of the wire that are adjacent and parallel. These adjacent portions are joined by welding 39. Above the welded joint 39, the wire portions are bent outwardly at 4l-4l and upwardly at 42-42 thereby providing upstanding resilient ends 43-43 that are each covered with rubber tubes 44-44 and comprise the tines of a fork. The rubber covered portions of the glider form a substantially U-shaped member designed to receive the bent portion 2| of the vacuum cleaner handle l8. Reference to Fig. 1 shows that the axes of all of the portions of the wire above bends 36-36 lie substantially in a plane that is transverse to the plane defined by the axis of the runners 3l-3l and at the same time makes an angle of approximately fifty degrees (50) therewith.

When it becomes desirable to use the hand vacuum cleaner in the manner in which a tank type cleaner is normally used, the hand cleaner I0 is attached to the glider H by snapping the pipe 22 into the loop 34 and by forcing the rear terminal 2| of the handle l8 between the rubber covered resilient ends 4343'. After the hose 26 has been attached to the pipe 22, the cleaner I0 and the glider I l are placed on the floor with the runners 3 i--3l resting thereon. The cleaner I!) and glider H are then pulled around the room by means of the hose 2?; and any desired cleaning tool, as for example the nozzle 21.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what I claim herein is:

1. A glider for use with hand type vacuum cleaners, comprising, a wire frame bent from a single piece of wire, said frame having a pair of wire runners, a pair of wire portions upstanding at one end of said glider and converging to ward one another, a U-shaped bend joining the upper ends of said upstanding portions, a second pair of wire portions upstanding at the other end of said glider and converging toward one another, a pair of horizontal coaxial wire portions extending toward one another from the upper ends of said second upstanding portions and, a pair of parallel adjacent portions extending upwardly from ends of said horizontal portions, and a pair of outwardly and upwardly bent portions extend' ing from said parallel portions, said parallel portions being welded together and said outwardly and upwardly bent portions being covered by rubber tubes.

2. A glider for use with hand type vacuum cleaners, comprising, a wire frame bent from a single piece of wire, said frame having a pair of convergent wire runners, a pair of upwardly convergent wire portions rising from one end of said glider and defining a plane vertically inclined at an angle of approximately seventy-five degrees to a horizontal plane containing said runners, a U- shaped bend joining the upper ends of said upwardly convergent wire portions, a second pair of upwardly convergent wire portions rising from the other end of said glider, said second pair of wire portions defining a plane vertically inclined at an angle of approximately fifty-degrees to the plane of said runners, a pair of horizontally disposed coaxial wire portions extending toward one another from the upper ends of said second upwardly convergent wire portions and terminating in a pair of parallel upwardly-inclined adjacent portions, and a pair of outwardly and upwardly bent portions extending from said parallel portions, said parallel portions being welded together and said outwardly and upwardly bent portions being covered by rubber tubes.

'3. A glider for use with hand type vacuum cleaners, comprising, a wire frame, said frame having a pair of wire runners, a pair of upwardly convergent wire portions rising from one end of said glider, a U-shaped bend joining the upper ends of said upwardly convergent wire portions, a second pair of upwardly convergent wire portions rising from the other end of said glider, a pair of horizontally disposed wire portions extending toward one another from the upper ends of said second upwardly convergent wire portions and terminating in a pair of parallel upwardly inclined adjacent portions, and a pair of outwardly and upwardly bent portions extending from said parallel portions, said parallel portions being secured to one another.

EDGAR P. TURNER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

FCREIGN PATENTS Number Name Date 101,618 Sweden Mar. 20, 1941 194,910 Great Britain Mar. 22, 1923 283,173 Great Britain Jan. 31, 1929 

